September 24, 2012

Making the most of Fall and some news...

Fall is here for sure. Moderate temperatures, sunny days, blue skies, tempting us to spend time outside. And to do that, we combined spending time outside with cooking outside too. :)

You've already heard me talk about the new grill we got over the summer. It came with a side gas burner and we decided to make inaugurate that by deep frying some Luchis or Puris. Luchis or Puris stir up strong memories of weekends at home when we would have them with kumror chakka or alur tarkari or pujo at home when maa would make these puffed beauties for narayan pujo.

Cooking outside made for a perfect, relaxed morning, melding into the afternoon. We cooking outside. Lil A in the backyard with his bike, MIL making the bhaji to go with the luchis.

Before I go to the recipe, here is the big news to go with some puris. Lil A is soon going to have company. We are expecting a "Tiny Lil one" soon. Lil A is excited about the news as well. In fact, he has set aside one toy for the baby claiming the rest of it as his own. But that's progress, right! Any tips on how to manage two together are welcome.

1. Luchi/Puri/ Puffed bread
Bengali Luchis are made with All purpose flour or maida. But these are not. I made them with regular atta.

Method:
Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Create a well in the middle, and add the oil and water mix it with fingertips. Then start kneading the dough. It has to be soft and that comes from kneading it nicely. Add a tspoon of oil on top and let it rest for 30-45 min. The oil prevents the drying.

Now take a small amount of dough (about golf size) and then make it into a ball. Roll it out on an clean oiled surface using a rolling pin.Avoid using flour, if it sticks add a tiny bit of oil. I can never make round ones, so I made all kinds of shapes, but the round ones you see in the pictures come from my MIL :)

Heat a cup of oil in a kadai/wok. The oil has to be hot or else the puri/luchi will not rise. Once the oil is hot add a little bit dough to check the temperature. If it rises up and the oil bubbles, the temperature is right.

Add the luchi/puri (and our kadai is small, so we did one at a time) and press gently with a slotted spoon. It will puff up in the middle. Let it cook for a min and then turn. It should be cooked with golden color and without too much browning.

Take it out and put it on kitchen towel to soak extra oil. Serve hot with pickle, raita, bhaji, tarkari, payesh, or just plain sugar.

2. Aloo gajarer tarkari/Potato carrot stir-fry
We had our puris/luchis with some simple carrot and potato bhaji. Here is the recipe.

Method:
Wash, cut and boil the potatoes and carrots together. Once they are boiled mash them roughly together.Now add turmeric powder, cumin seed powder, and salt and mix it together.

Heat oil in a pan and add mustard and cumin seeds and the red chilli. Once it sizzles, add the potato and carrot mix. Stir well to mix and then let it cook for 4-5 minutes. Adjust salt and take it off the heat.

Dear mandira Congratulations ! We are very happy to hear the great news ! Regarding the recipe , i am also thrilled , bit new for me with cumin-mustard seasoning ( it is used in some Oriya dishes ) and bit mashed potato, must try it some day ( of course with ata luchi) bhalo theko